A SOMERSET hotel is now growing wheat, so it can produce home grown flour to use in its various restaurants. 

The Newt in Somerset also grows vegetables in their kitchen garden, rears deer for venison and also has cows and sheep which are reared for meat. 

The hotel also makes cider from home grown apples in their orchards.

Cameron Knee, the Newt Estate's farm manager, said: “As well as Einkorn and Emmer heritage wheat, we grow feed wheat and barley for our 400 pedigree British White cows, of which we are very proud as it is the biggest pedigree British White herd in the world, our 350 pedigree Dorset Down ewes and our herds of Red and Fallow Deer."

Ed White, the Newt Estate's project manager, went to McArthur BDC when he was in need of a duhulling plant. He met with the team at Groundswell and was impressed, so asked Cameron to have a follow-up meeting at the LAMMA Show. 

A JK Machinery JCC05 VibroCompact sieve cleaner, with the capacity for a quick pre-clean of up to 6tph or 1.5tph for a detailed clean, was installed to clean the wheat and prevent harmful material entering a JK Machinery JHC03 Compact Dehuller. The JHC03 has the capacity, depending on the grain, to dehull between 400kg/h and 1tph.

The grain is transported from the sieve cleaner to the dehuller via two Astwell augers, each with a capacity of up to 3tph. Both the sieve cleaner and the dehuller are fitted with aspirators and to ensure cost-efficiency, both operate with the same fan and cyclone.

Once the wheat has been dehulled it again passes through the sieve cleaner, removing any remaining whole grains or husks not removed by the aspirator. The grain is then ready for milling and is discharged from the JCC05 sieve cleaner into 1t bags.

Cameron added:  “As we are dehulling wheat, The JHC03 was our preferred machine as it uses impact to dehull rather than grinding. This is important when dehulling pointed-shaped crops, such as wheat and barley.

"Our local miller operates a stone mill which means he has exacting standards around the quality of the grain he is happy to mill. The McArthur BDC cleaning and dehulling system has meant that we have been able to not only meet his standards but exceed them, and he can’t wait to get his hands on some more!

“For any farming business looking at installing a grain processing plant, I cannot overestimate the importance of getting your preferred supplier to carry out a site visit to make sure that the design works within the available space.

"Plus, you need to engage with a supplier that has a proven track record in successfully delivering grain processing plants. McArthur BDC fits that bill and with its team of grain handling experts, I would recommend that you talk to them first!”